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General discussion

Browser hijacked; virus hit old PC, need to buy new PC.

Apr 6, 2005 12:08PM PDT

My browser and PC were both hit last week; browser was hijacked; PC was hit by viruses; PC took 15 hits last week; thought my Norton was working; must not have been.

Sent all 15 hits to Norton for analysis; all 15 hits were listed as having adware components. Unable to repair; have been advised by others to buy a new PC; trash the old one since I can't seem to repair the damage.

Would like recommendations on a basic entry level new desktop PC; nothing from Dell since I have issues with their tech support for home office PC's plus all of the negative feedback I've read in other forums about Dell and their company's poor customer service and tech support. I would be using my new PC to do word processing; email; internet and home finance. I'm not into computer games or digital photography.

Would also like to know what new security software I should have installed on any new PC before connecting it to the internet. I want to avoid a repeat of what has just happened to my old PC last week which seemed to be running fine on WIN 95 until these attacks took place last week.


Big Steve
End Of Message
04/06/05

Discussion is locked

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RE
Apr 6, 2005 12:12PM PDT

i would get the emachines t6212. cost around $600. good value cuz has pciexpress x16 slot for gfx card upgrade and 512mb ram.

Should install the following from download.com
adaware se personal 1.05
spware doctor
spybot search and destroy
Zone Alarm 5.5
zoneprotect personal firewall 1.0

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RE
Apr 6, 2005 12:13PM PDT

i not sure if the zone ones are free

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Browser hijacked; virus hit old PC, need to buy new PC.
Apr 6, 2005 3:30PM PDT

Nerdyboy:

Thanks for the reply.


Big Steve
End Of Reply
04/07/05

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if I were you
Apr 9, 2005 2:50PM PDT

i'd get a new hard drive
which removes any chance of the Virus being there (how to remove virus from RAM, turn of the PC, the RAM loses anything stored in RAM the second power is not supplied (As it has to refresh every few miliseconds to store data (Which is why Flash DRAM is un-usable for memory storage)

just grab a new IDE hard drive
www.newegg.com

i'd get an 80GB personally
and then install your OS of choice

you'll be fine

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Simply
Apr 9, 2005 2:54PM PDT

see the name of the files, and manually delete them. Most of the time, they say that it can't be repaired, so i manually delete.
Roger

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Browser hijacked; viruses hit old PC; can't seem to repair;
Apr 9, 2005 7:12PM PDT

Question:

What if anything do you know about Norton's anti-virus software? I have Norton AV 2004 installed but haven't been able to receive any live updates for quite sometime.

What could possibly be causing me to not be able to receive any of Norton's live updates? I have had no success in contacting Norton for an explanation and my AV subscription is scheduled to expire in nine days.


Big Steve
End Of Reply
04/10/05

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uh, here is what i'd do
Apr 10, 2005 12:20PM PDT

it seems like your system is jsut sorta on the fritz

you have a few options

but what i'd do right off the bat is REFORMAT WITH A CLEAN INSTALL OF WINDOWS

do not connect to the internet yet

upon reformatting re-install NAV 2004

goto the store, and buy a copy of MaximumPC that includes a CD with at least Firefox (your doing this to get the CD, you can keep the mag if you want (their usually pretty decent) but Firefox is what you want, along with Spybot S&D)

still do not connect to the web

install Spybot S&D
and Firefox (Firefox is a web broswer, if you don't wanna pay $9 for a MaximumPC, connect to the web after installing NAV 2k4, and then go straight to www.mozilla.org, and DL Firefox, and then get Spybot S&D)


Firefox keeps spwyare and adware out, and automatically blocks pop-ups

it's just such a great web broswer

using IE 6
NPF 2003 on my system would give me pop up block alerts, intrusion stuff, and various other things all the time

with Firefox, i get Firefox telling me it's doing something, and NPF2003 (and PrevX...which is annoying to say the least, invision NPF's intrusion detection, combined with Spybot's registry protection thing, BTW I HAVE SPYBOT AND NPF! so i get 3 alerts at about anything that affects Windows...but hey, it keeps the system clean)


Firefox just makes the web better

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has anyone thought of just re-installing Windows?
Apr 10, 2005 3:10PM PDT

It's a lot less expensive.

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Agreed
Apr 11, 2005 1:20AM PDT

Do a clean install; install a firewall and Av and Spybot, Adaware, MS antispy, spywareguard and spywareblaster,CWshredder and Crapcleaner before you go on internet. New Pc WHY?

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Browser hijacked; viruses hit old PC; can't seem to repair;
Apr 11, 2005 8:42AM PDT

When you say simply re-install Windows which in my particular case would be Windows 95; do you mean by use of the Windows 95 CD? My brother gave me this computer as a birthday gift 6 years ago come this June 2005 and unfortunately a Windows 95 CD wasn't included with it so that would be a problem; correct?

I've got my eyes on that new Emachine T6212 I think; that might not be the correct model number. Since I know basically nothing about the workings of a computer; if I do decide to buy that Emachine; should I also consider purchasing an extended warranty or not? If so for how many years? Please advise.


Big Steve
End Of Reply
04/11/05

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looks good
Apr 11, 2005 4:18PM PDT

looks like a super machine at that price.

http://www.emachines.com/products/products.html?prod=eMachines_T6212

as far as the extended warranty...there's no "right" answer. circuit city wants $139 for two years. Without reading all the fine print, I think this means it is two years in addition to the 12-month factory warranty. It's really a "peace of mind" thing, a form of insurance like any other insurance.

I guess it all comes down to how long you will keep, and be happy, with the system. You might be ready to dump it in a year. Or maybe not.

Regardless, it looks terrific. Pick up a nice flat-panel monitor and you're good to go.